Williams lost 6 of 9 GOP Senate districts up for re-election in 2012 giving Democrats fodder

In this fall’s governor’s race, Republican Senate President David Williams lost six of the nine Republican-held Senate seats up for election in 2012 and all 10 of the Democrats’ seats, according to the cn|2 analysis.

Williams lost the Nov. 8 race by more than 20 points to Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear.

Among the Senate districts Williams lost were Republican-leaning areas of the 17th District in northern Kentucky represented by Sen. Damon Thayer of Georgetown and the 25th District in Eastern Kentucky represented by Senate GOP Floor Leader Robert Stivers of Manchester. That district includes Clay County — home of Williams’ running mate Richie Farmer.

Williams and Farmer also lost all 10 Democratic-controlled districts up in 2012. In comparison, the one Republican to win statewide office last month — Agriculture Commissioner-elect James Comer — lost just one state Senate district: Sen. Walter Blevins’ district that covers Rowan, Fleming, Elliott, Lawrence and Boyd counties.

And that could give Senate Democratic candidates fresh ammunition across the state to try to link Republican candidates to Williams in the hopes that voters think Williams is unpopular, one top-ranking Democrat said.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo said that strategy is sometimes over-used. But he said on Pure Politics last week that if he were running the Senate Democrats’ campaigns he’d probably try it. Here’s the full interview segment with Stumbo on the 2012 eletion:

Below is the map showing the nine districts currently held by Republicans that are up for election in 2012.

The three Williams and Farmer won are in green (the 15th, 21st and 11th Districts). The 15th and 21st are adjacent to Williams’ own Senate district, the 16th District, which isn’t scheduled to be up for re-election until 2014.

But Williams lost two other districts that touch his district — the 9th and 25th. Those are represented in red along with the other three Williams and Farmer lost (1st, 5th, and 17th).

It’s worth noting that lawmakers will be redrawing legislative district lines this winter, so many of those districts could be altered by the 2012 election.

(* Note: Results in districts that include parts of Jefferson, Fayette and Kenton counties that cover multiple Senate districts were calculated based on the total votes in the counties — not the exact precincts.)